Chase Reece, BSHP '24

Today, I worked on revising and editing a grant proposal. The proposal was written by several people, and I was tasked with editing it for clarity and to help the overall flow since different parts were written with a different voice. It is important that the information in a grant proposal flows in a way that is logical and easy to comprehend. A grant could have great supporting data and a good vision, but if the readers do not understand the full scope of the proposal due to issues with writing style, it could jeopardize the proposal. This grant proposal specifically focused on addressing workforce challenges in three rural Georgia communities with labor force participation rates much lower than state and national averages. This is an important issue because health is heavily related to economic development within a community. Additionally, while COVID-19 impacted all economies, rural areas were impacted even more so due to older workforces on average. Moreover, a majority of those who lost jobs due to the pandemic are still found to be inactive or only somewhat active in job searching. There are many workforce challenges in rural areas that contribute to this, and this is what the proposal aims to address.